The present invention relates to siphons, in particular, flushing siphons for cleaning a trough of a livestock enclosure by flushing relatively high volumes of water at a relatively high velocity across the trough.
Siphons are quite frequently used in agricultural enclosures for livestock to provide a more or less high velocity and high volume flow of water across a dirt and manure catching trough in a relatively short time so as to flush same. It is often desirable to have these siphons function automatically with a high degree of dependency while being relatively simple in design and inexpensive to produce. It is also important that these siphons have few if any moving parts to be fouled or jammed by the debris in the waste water typically used for such flushing systems.
It is also important for the siphon to repeatedly flush at a predetermined time in the flushing sequence. If the siphon flushes too early, there is an insufficient cleaning of the trough and such early flushing may produce a continuous flowthrough of the siphon such that the flushing sequence must be manually restarted. It is also important that the siphon flush before same fills too full and somewhat vigorously such that there is not a continual runthrough of the flushing water which can also be produced when the siphon is overfilled. In order to initiate the flushing action at the proper point in the flushing sequence, it is important to properly fill the lower liquid trap and an upper air trap of the siphon. It is also desirable to have an automatic trigger mechanism which initiates flushing at a relatively constant point during flushing sequence.
The present invention provides a siphon having a discharge which opens upwardly and relatively flush or in low profile with respect to the floor of the trough being flushed. The upstream end of the siphon discharge may be canted slightly upward to urge the flow of the liquid downstream of the siphon and through the trough. The discharge mouth flairs or diverges substantially so as to reduce the velocity of the flow of liquid flowing through the siphon and to ensure that fluid is retained within the discharge at the end of the flush cycle. This in turn ensures that fluid will be in the liquid trap so as to prime same for the next sequential flushing cycle. A large flared inlet with a weep hole therein also ensures that the air trap will be properly filled with air at the beginning of each flushing cycle. A trigger mechanism is utilized to automatically activate the vigorous flushing action of the siphon preferably before fluid within the fluid storage vessel overflows the air trap into the liquid trap. Other hydraulic principles such as a convergence of the cross-sectional area of the siphon within the region associated with the inlet between the inlet and the air trap, especially in conjuction with continuous generally smooth opposite side walls of the siphon, increases the hydraulic efficiency of the device.
It is also desirable that multiple siphons may be utilized to flush a relatively wide trough simultaneously from a single liquid storage tank.
Further, it is desirable to have a unitized, preferably prefabricated, siphon structure which allows one unskilled in the art of flushing siphons to install such a siphon with a high degree of probability that the siphon will operate. This is especially true, since flushing siphons may be tempermental if poorly designed or built and may fail to operate as desired if improperly built.